Yesterday I was eating some fresh broccoli when, lo and behold, I noticed a caterpillar nestled under the florets! He looks like this:



I named him Moses, for although he was not found hiding away in a basket amongst the river weeds, he was found hiding away amongst my broccoli florets, and I set him up in a glass on my table. Inside the glass I put his bit of broccoli, a branch and some leaves from a neighborhood tree, and several drops of water. I covered the top with saranwrap, and punched a number of holes in the wrap to allow him oxygen and airflow.

Moses was slow and lethargic when we first discovered him, but has become much more active. I suppose he was cold, living in my crisper drawer, and is much happier now that he has warmed up.

When I sat down to eat my breakfast this morning, I peeked into his new abode and noticed a mass of yellow-green balls piled at the bottom of the glass. Eggs? Perhaps there will be many Moses Juniors in a short time!

Chris and I think he is an Imported Cabbageworm, the species shown in the picture above. I'm hoping that he will pupate here in our kitchen. He would be the first butterfly I've ever raised.

So much drama and intruigue in my job world lately; moreso than the last time! Riding on past experiences, I'm a little hesitant to post much about it until I make this site a little secure.

Ask me sometime in person, though, and I'll share a few good stories.

Or maybe I'll get my butt in gear with this site sometime soon. Wouldn't that beat all.

Busy, busy, busy.

So I have no job now, and we have internet access in the apartment, but I've been super-busy lately. Funny how that works -- the more time I think I'll have, the busier I seem to get. Maybe I'm more liberal about trying to fit things into my schedule right now, since I imagine that I'll have all the time in the world -- if I thought I had less time, I'd schedule less and attempt to do less, and would end up having more free time in the balance.

Do you find yourself out on too many intollerable dates? Can't say no, but can't endure the thought of seeing the whole thing through? Cingular and Virgin Mobile now offer "rescue calls" as part of their cell-phone service -- arrange to have them call you up at a pre-ordained time, and a recorded message will walk you through an excuse to get you out of any situation. That's right! Rather than fighting your passive-aggressive urges, you can wallow in them, with your cell phone provider coddling you all the way.

At the Westlake dance this afternoon, a pigeon was all in a panic because it had gotten some twine caught up around its foot, and a large stick also attached to the twine.

Several dancers and onlookers somehow caught the pigeon, subdued it, and made a quick and efficient operation out of removing the stick and twine. It couldn't be undone just by hand, but someone had nail clippers so they were able to cut the string apart. The pigeon's foot was a little bent and bloodied up, but they were able to remove the twine without futher injury. They then freed the bird, which promptly flew away.

It was so nice to see people actively grouping together to help an animal like that! Too often it seems people are inclined in such a situation to ignore the creature, or worse, to hurt it or compound its misery somehow. Very refreshing to see them all bonding together to help out and make the bird's situation better.

Yesterday morning, I tried to hit google several times, only to hit a server error page.

This was actually quite distressing for me. I hadn't realized that I was so dependent on google; apparently, as far as my internet habits are concerned, google is the backbone of the net. Without it, I am lost.

Where was google?

Why could I not search?

The mystery is solved:

July 27, 2004 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- In an event that severely hampered the performance of Google's search engine, the Google (google.com) Web site was hit by the MyDoom virus on Monday, seriously disrupting service for several hours. Users who attempted searches during the disruption received a server error page.

It also affected Lycos, Yahoo, and Alta Vista, although I didn't personally note those disruptions.

A german clothes manufacturer is soon to release a coat that contains a built in MP3 player controlled by buttons on the sleeve and a hands-free cellphone microphone tucked into the collar. Maybe it's just me, but that seems almost sad.

Crazy - it's no longer just in tech that we can get outsourced.

"Do not induce vomiting, as it will NOT prevent food poisoning. Bacteria and other microscopic organisms cause food poisoning. There is no way that vomiting will remove every bad organism in the stomach. Food poisoning can still occur even if vomiting was induced. Unfortunately, there is no way to prevent food poisoning once bad food has been eaten. That is why prevention is the key."

Apparently I just shouldn't eat bad food to begin with. Interesting.

Good thing the thai food this afternoon wasn't too bad. Mike made me really hungry with stories of amazing breakfasts. Then I remembered that I had some left-over thai food in the fridge at work! I don't remember how old, maybe a week or two - but I was hungry, and it was there!

The phad thai tasted a little funny (and possibly looked a little funny), so after a taste or two I tossed it all out. The curry and rice seemed okay, though, so I put them on a different plate and finished them off. Yum.

Now I've been reading about food poisoning, just in case. I don't know how long it would take to tell if what I did was a bad thing and I'm about to die, but I think if I'm okay now, well - I'm probably okay.

Adam says that the good news is I can easily travel to the third world without fear.

It's like I'm practicing, yeah? Building up a tollerance. Good for me! So brave. So fearless. So able-to-eat-questionable-things. I know you're jealous.

Bruce Springstein's I'm on Fire is awesome stuff. Gives me the shivers. Wish I could write music that speaks to people like that song speaks to me.

---

So I might start blogging more again sometime soon.

Granted, I did give away my main PC. It was a nice machine, but my baby sister is going off to college and she'll put it to much better use than I had been. Also, I must get rid of things if I am ever to travel the world.

Must... let... go of... material... posessions......

I also gave away the trusty Aptiva Pentium 233 that saw me through all of college. Found some non-profit that was interested in taking it off my hands. ShareTechnology.org is awesome -- it's a donation database that connects people with old computer equipment with recipients who can put it to use. Kudos to them.

I still have Shibani, my 486 laptop, though! Not sure anyone would want her even were I inclined to give her away.

Poor Shibani is mess at the moment, but plans are to outfit her again with a fresh installation of Win 3.11, and then perhaps I can hook her up through Chris's little network in our new place.

Alternatively, I also have permission to borrow his computer when he is out or is not using it.

Also, Company-Whatever-Acronym-I-Decided-To-Use-That-I've-Long-Since-Forgotten is outsourcing the work I have been doing to India sometime soon, and I'm not sure yet what I'll be doing after that. So I may have a bit of extra time on my hands for a while, as well.

Time will tell. I do miss the little blog, though. So does Steve. And even if you're the only one who reads it, Stevey-poo, I should be faithful and good to my admiring public. Yo.

Wouldn't it be awesome to live and work in Antarctica? It's on my list now.

Bobby Fischer - quite a crazy man.

Woah - they found Bobby Fischer.

I keep seeing cars with Minnesota plates everywhere. I think we're about to take over the state.

I will never be bored again.

Yesterday morning, I took Mary out to breakfast at the B&O. Yummy!

On the way home, we walked by Half Priced Books. Usually I walk right by, but they had a clearance shelf out on the sidewalk and I noticed a hard cover copy of A Thousand Acres out for sale, available for $1.00. A Thousand Acres! Only a dollar! That's it. That started the feeding frenzy.

I ended up walking off with 40-some books, most for a dollar or two, a select few priced at $3.00. I figure I'll never be bored again. Probably not until Christmas, anyway. Certainly not before the summer is up. And I won't make back everything I spent, but I can make back at least a portion of it by selling the books back when I finish with them. Heck, if I borrowed the same set of books from the library, I'd probably rack up the same price in library fines anyway.

Check out this photo:



The translation of the French portion reads:

Wash with warm water.
Use mild soap.
Dry flat.
Do not use bleach.
Do not dry in the dryer.
Do not iron.
We are sorry that our President is an idiot.
We did not vote for him.

The label is from a series of Tom Binh brand bags. Some blogger posted the picture above several months ago, which started a media frenzy. One of the articles is posted on the Tom Binh site. Cute, eh?

New findings from the Kath-Lab:

Remember Goo Gone? Turns out that peanut butter works just as well, and is far cheaper. And you can eat it, too!

I met several new people when I was down in Eugene the other weekend, Olga being one. Upon meeting her, she said something to the effect of, "Oh, you're Kathryn. Greg and I found your blog."

That was pretty crazy. I mean, I've had friends/coworkers/etc. find it, but this was the first time I've met anyone who know about the blog before meeting me. I guess it's not totally surprising; they'd been searching the net for info on Seattle tango people, and since I am addicted to tango and friends with a number of people within the community, it does come up. And, although we live in a big world, the world argentine tango community is actually pretty small.

Still, it was quite the experience.

I've had a thing lately for heading out to the beach in the middle of the night. I'm fascinated by the water in the moonlight.

Tuesday night, after the Practica, I managed to talk Patrick into taking a jaunt with me. We originally tried for Golden Gardens, but there were several police cars sitting in the parking lot so we drove on through. We ended up hanging out on dock at Greenlake, instead. Still very nice. The sky was clear and beautiful, the stars bright. The water lapped at the shore and the moon shone down upon us. A blue heron stood guard just across the water for white a while. It had been a while since we had spent any real time together, so we talked and caught up. Lying on the dock next to Patrick, chatting and watching the water and the sky, I dozed off a bit. It was very peaceful. He says that I'm a beautiful sleeper -- calm, content, reaching to hold onto the arm of whoever is near me and curling up against it. I'm just glad that he doesn't take it personally when I nod off during our late night conversations. Not long after that, I woke up and we went home for the night.

Friday night, after the blues dance, I dragged several folk out to Alki. Tegan, Cynthia, Krista, Miles, Jason, and Patrick. A nice crowd. Friday was much colder than Tuesday had been; the day had been gloomy and cold, and the night wasn't much better. We all curled up in a pile of blankets against a log nearby the water and talked. I was really happy. We were talking, laughing, joking around, and it felt so good giving myself up to laughter. Someone -- Tegan? Patrick? Cynthia? -- said that it was nice to see me smiling and laughing, that I look serious too much of the time these days. I think they might be right. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's that I hang around different people these days, and these people bring out a different side of me? Maybe it's that tango seems more serious to me somehow, so I become more serious. I'm not sure. Whatever the case, it was nice to be out with old friends and to be in such good spirits. The night was chilly but pleasant, the water was beautiful, and the company was enjoyable. After we left, we all met up at my place and everyone hung out for a while more. We chatted a bit and then popped in The Secret of Nimh. I don't think I could be that social all the time, but as a once-in-a-while sort of thing, it's very beautiful. The good feelings carried over into all the rest of the weekend.

Patrick and I are talking now of organizing a small camping trip out to the Olympic Penninsula oen of these days soon. I can't wait. I've rarely seen the ocean, and not by night; should be quite the experience.